[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

I was thinking about the breeding industry, as I was reading yet another article about George Washington today- one of the articles mentioned he was sold for a bit over $2 million as a yearling. It reminded me of how incredibly over-inflated the prices for racehorses are, because they're being sold not as racing prospects, but as breeding prospects, which happen to run a few times in an attempt to increase their value. GW, one of the few really expensive racehorses who actually had a chance to earn back what he cost, was retired upon having earned a little more than half what he cost, because he wasn't really purchased for that at all- it was for profits in breeding.

And because of the breeding industry, the successful intact horses are assigned these incredibly high values for insurance purposes, and yes, it does start to make no sense to run them because they can't earn enough to cover the insurance payments for an arbitrary figure set according to a possible future breeding success (which is about as rare as success in stakes races- Real Quiet sired a BC winner yesterday and stands for what, $5000? In Pennsylvania). And it has nothing to do with racing as a sport- it's this weird parallel industry that makes lots of money and doesn't really have anything to do with the reason racing exists (gambling)- a 6-1 shot pays exactly the same in a $2500 claimer as in the Kentucky Derby. But it does harm the popular face of the industry because it's hard to attract fans to a sport where the big stars have maybe an 18-month career.

And because of the big $$ involved, the racing industry won't do the most obvious thing to keep the stars running- regulate the breeding industry. Requiring the stud horse to be at least 5 years old is no less arbitrary than requiring the matings to be natural covers. But requiring natural covers drives up stud fees, while making horses reach 5 before breeding would result in a lot of precocious but unsound 2-year-olds being forgotten after they get injured and retired to replicate their unsoundness.

Anyway, so yeah, it's about the $$. And so I can sympathize with Dunbar finding it hard to root for a horse that is being rushed off to the breeding shed. As a person who understands $$ rules everything in this world, I comprehend it, but as a fan of racing I hate it, and in the end, fandom is emotional, not logical (see some of my 2006 posts on Lawyer Ron for proof of that!).

Good post but personally I believe limiting a stallions foal crop to a certain number would be a better option than making a stallion wait until they are 5. You may wind up with horses with legit injuries trying a limited, big money campaign with endings like GW. It would also lower the total value of a stallion because they would not be able to collect as much in stud fees which may lead to lesser horses who may stand for 15k or less stay in training to try to enhance credentials since they have the potential to make close to the breeding money on the track. Of course these things have no chance of ever happening.